Snakes slither their way onto our stamps

The stars
of New Zealand’s newest postage stamps would send Indiana
Jones running for cover... but will have Slytherin fans
rejoicing!

The Chinese New Year on February 10 marks the
start of the Year of the Snake – and New Zealand Post is
marking the occasion with the release of four stamps which
combine aspects of Chinese culture with Kiwi themes and
images of snakes. The stamps celebrate the New Year, and
also the growing Chinese community in New Zealand.

The 70c
stamp eschews snake images in favour of the Chinese
calligraphic character for the word “snake” – making
it safe even for the most olidiophobic among us. The
calligraphic character used dates back more than 700
years.

Those with a phobia of snakes won’t be so
lucky with the $1.40 stamp – which features a snake made
by the traditional Chinese art form of paper cutting.
People needn’t fear though, as this snake is a friendly
one – a greetings snake – incorporating designs based on
the pomegranate (Chinese symbol of luck, fertility, wealth
and long life) and the traditional Kiwi silver
fern.

The $1.90 stamp
also links symbolism from New Zealand and China, showing a
traditional Chinese lantern with the image of a snake on it
furled into the shape of a koru. The unfurling fern
represents new life, growth and strength, while the rounded
lantern symbolises wholeness and harmony. The snake is
decorated with the peony, which is widely regarded as
China’s national flower.

Last, but by no means least,
the $2.40 stamp takes the koru-snake lantern design to new
heights – attaching them to Queenstown’s Skyline
Gondolas. The Queenstown area is home to the Winter
Festival, which in 2012 included a lantern parade with an
array of colourful lanterns and a Chinese dragon lighting up
the streets.

The four 2013 Year of the Snake stamps are
also incorporated into a colourful miniature sheet featuring
the Chinese characters for each of the 12 animals in the
Chinese lunar calendar. The stamps and miniature sheet are
also incorporated in two collectable first day covers. The
stamp sheets in this issue are unique, with each one
containing five gutter pairs.

Those wishing to find out
more about the Chinese New Year and the characteristics
associated with people born in the Year of the Snake can
purchase a presentation pack, which includes the four gummed
stamps, the miniature sheet and the first day cover. An
intricate Chinese paper-cut snake is included in the
pack.

But the ultimate collector’s item will be two
unique gold-foiled miniature sheets, made from 24-carat,
99.9-gold foil. These gold-foiled miniature sheets are
replicas of the miniature sheet in the stamp issue. The
large miniature sheet is beautifully presented within an
individually numbered frame, and are strictly limited in
availability, with only 128 being produced worldwide. A
second, smaller miniature sheet is mounted in a perspex
display stand.

The ‘2013 Year of the Snake’ stamps
will be on sale from 9 January 2013, and are available
through all PostShops, REAL Aotearoa, online at
www.nzpost.co.nz/yearofthesnake or 0800 782
677.

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